A Rescue
by G. Sun
Summary: After Mia's been taken away by the dark man, Don stages a rescue to get his prisoner back. But will Seth let Don take Mia and quietly stroll out? Something about his behavior seems off, will Don be able to handle this unstable Seth? Read after TENSION ARISES.
1. Chapter 1

**We're nearly there guys, hang on.**

"Don, do you know how ridiculous you sound? Is this some wild excuse on how you lost Mia?" says the Professor, high-strung and visibly perturbed after telling her everything that happened. The lab makes beeping and ringing noises endlessly as I try to persuade the Professor about what truly happened.

"I know how ridiculous it sounds," I say embarrassingly. Telling the Professor about the supernatural things is like spraying a cockroach with perfume to kill it. "But that's what happened."

"Seriously what happened to her?" insists the Professor impatiently, refusing to believe my wild story. "She gave you the slip huh? I'm not that surprised, that girl is harboring all sorts of power inside her."

"That I find that difficult to believe," I reject her idea with a snort. If that girl had any kind of strength she could have fought off that dark man. Whenever I find her she's either staring apprehensively at the floor or is unconscious. "Anyway the man got away with her and I have no idea where they went."

"It's not like you to come up with such wild stories, you're no creative thinker. It's a good time to test out one of my inventions made in light of Mia, pun intended."

"Right."

When we reach the eighth floor, she almost drops the heavy piece of machinery in her hands. "Why did you go to the eighth floor of all the floors to have a fight in? Why my sanctuary?" Ignoring her trivial question, she curses to herself when she sees the broken sliding doors, the broken pool stick Mia threw at the dark man, and the state of the kitchen. All I did was kick down a door, I'm not sure how the refrigerator got smashed in. Only the library is in a good state-it's not like I was paying attention to desks I jumped over and some of the books knocked down. In the emergency staircase, she asks me for the exact spot of where they disappeared to. "What does it matter?"

"Exactly! It's all about _matter_."

"I don't follow you."

"If what I've calculated from Mia's test results are correct, then this might work. Now show me." She starts turning the switches on for her heavy piece of machinery. Not the strangest invention I've seen but still very odd looking-a platinum built antenna that looks like a special kind of fan without blades that blows cool air that the Professor saw on TV juts out, while the bottom looks like a life-size Walkman with a bright, touch screen. "Right here," I mutter, remembering being face-planted into wall while being strangled. I'm still seething over how I almost fell asleep when that dark man made my own shadow strangle me. I turn around to scrutinize it, as I've done all day. That's what he meant when he said I would be betrayed, by my shadow that follows me around everywhere.

"If what you're saying is true, then this invention will work." She bends down and puts the invention on the floor. The inside of the antenna glows bright blue, making a whirring noise as it rotates three sixty. Then it turns to the spot where the dark man left and on the screen in dark yellow caps it reads: _Analyzing…wait._ After a good two minutes, the inside of the antenna turns purple and something pops up on the screen. The Professor gets up from the step and peers over it.

"It says unreadable data," I read first disappointedly but Professor grins widely.

"Guess you weren't lying," she gets on her knees to touch the screen and pushes buttons automatically. When I first worked for the Professor I was mesmerized with how her hands would move when she would type on that huge keyboard of hers and the way she would brush things away on touch screens. As she chews on some sugary candy, I notice that her eyes are bloodshot from lack of sleep and beneath them are dark bags. "Tell me Don, do you remember when you went to retrieve that Chaos Emerald months ago and it burst into purple matter when you held it?"

"Yes," I fold my arms. "What of it?"

"On my screen it came up as unreadable data and I used that data to attempt to create a negative world."

"Negative world?"

"It's only a theory but I'm assuming that the data that surrounded the girls when they crashed here is similar to the data that brought them here. I'm sure the dark man you spoke of is using the same thing. By decoding part of the data, I can manipulate the data to create a 'negative world', a temporary, unstable world with a provisional plane of time and space that should bring others to other worlds."

"All that you got out of Mia?"

"She still has traces of the negative world, very faint traces, along with unreadable data I still can't crack. If this machine works, well let's just say this might change everything we know about our universe." So that girl is filled with unreadable data is she? She is Luke's sister and he had some kind of uncanny energy about him that I couldn't understand so it's possible she could possess something strange. The Professor's never been wrong about anything before. She was born a genius and taught at University of Pitzer, one of the most prestigious universities in the world, and her alma mater. Unlike me, she had her head on her shoulders ever since she was young and could've made it big but every genius is twisted in some way. She couldn't handle not being in the public while her brother, Dr. Robotnik, was broadcasted on every station daily for doing destructive to the neighboring city where Sonic and the others are. She hung up the teacher's lab coat and when she decided to make a bomb that destroyed a chunk of the city, she became like me, an outcast and a menace to society. _"You're going to help me in my experiments and help me get my name out there. I promise you everything you need if you do whatever I ask of you."_

"_Anything I need?"_

"_And more," she replied enticingly._

"Why are you staring at me?" the Professor asks, suddenly self-conscious as she catches me staring at me in her peripheral vision as she uses her fingers to make circles on the screen. "Is there something on my face? You better tell me."

"Nothing."

"Do you miss Mia?"

"No. I feel bad at being beaten so easily."

"To think none of this would have ever happened if those girls never came here. That night when they crashed here, I've wondered this many times before, why here? What are the odds that they land here, out of the thousands of planets and galaxies, it had to be this one? Maybe the solution would to see what their worlds looked like." Professor is seldom a daydreamer but when she is, I find it easier to talk to her. When she's head deep in her work I leave her be and do what I can to help her out because I have to. "I don't know," I hesitantly remark.

"Finally I can test this out, get back, get back," she orders excitedly, already pushing me up the stairs. "Oops." She runs back down to turn the antenna to the other side and sprints up the top steps in her slippers. The reverse side of the inside of the antenna turns dark red this time and the ceiling lights flicker profusely-a deep violet plasma shoots from the antenna to the wall and jiggles as it spreads upward to the ceiling and then down to cover the floor. Layers build upon each other and then it resembles a cavern mouth. "It works! It works! It's not too unstable," she examines when she looks at the screen. "Am I a genius or what? Let's see my brother top this!" She jumps up and down like a squealing child on Christmas morning and then stares at me expectantly. "What're you still doing here, get in there."

"Where exactly, I'm lost."

"I'll explain it later, you got your watch right?"

"Yes."

"Then get going already, our dame needs her knight to save her!"

J.G.P.


	2. Chapter 2

I nearly stumble out of the "negative world" the Professor went on about, which is essentially a portal. The hallway leads into a bigger room which is dimly lit so I'm barely getting light in here. It's as cold as the laboratory in this unfamiliar hall. I crouch down and at the same time my watch buzzes and lights up. "Professor I'm in."

"My God there's unreadable data everywhere!" I'm sure she's watching me from the big screen in her laboratory, analyzing everything around me. "Find Mia yet?"

"No but I'm heading down this hallway and I need silence."

"Before you turn me off, down the hall and turning left will bring you to a huge mass of unreadable data. I'm assuming that's where Mia is."

"Got it." I turn the watch off and skulk down the pitch-black hall swiftly, staying close to the walls. Wherever Mia is, she had better be alive-this reminds me too much of my experience with Luke. Running in that cave teeming with Heartless, finding Mia dead on the stone table, and Luke's anxiety of seeing Mia for the first time, it's all fresh in my mind as if it happened yesterday. Should I still keep his secret? I already broke his promise, I failed to keep Mia safe so is there any point of hiding secrets for him? When I bring Mia back I'll tell her about Luke. I stop skulking and I crouch down when I almost reach the corner where I'm supposed to turn left when I hear voices conversing among themselves.

"…do what you couldn't earlier."

"You've prepared me for this when you sent me down there so I can do this." I recognize the first voice to belong to the dark man but it takes a while for me to remember the second one. "Are you sure about that?" the dark man asks.

"Master, trust me." It's that Seth kid Mia talked about when she became angry, the one she constantly defends. He sounds very tensed up and high-strung; it sounds as if he's going to start screaming in a moment.

"My trust can only be stretched so wide. Don't fail me this time. And take care of our mouse problem."

"Mouse problem?" asks Seth curiously.

"The mouse in the corner hiding, he's a special one." Shit, he knows I'm here but how was he able to find out? I'm an expert at this, I practiced with Topaz who knows how to step silently. "Take care of the matter." I have to catch him before he leaves again, he's the only one who knows where Mia is. Getting to my feet, I make the left turn and sprint to the dimly-lit room, my rings jingling faintly. When I reach the next room, it's not as spacious of a room as I imagined, it's smaller than the Professor's lounge on the eighth floor and is filled with training dummies.

"You're the mouse Master was talking about," observes Seth at the opposite end of the room. Leaning against one of the dummies is Mia, unconscious and looking quite peaceful despite the hardship she went through twenty minutes ago.

"If she's dead then I swear I will rip your head off," I warn him casually, walking towards Mia but he steps in between us. "Move."

"You haven't changed."

"Neither have you, still arrogant I see. Now before I hurt you, you need to step away."

"Before you do that, I'm going to take away Mia's heart. You don't want that do you?" his eyes flicker when he hears me mutter a curse. "And she's not dead yet, Master only slowed down her heart rate to make the next job easier." In Seth's hand a reddish black cloud abruptly appears and a miniature lightning bolt strikes his hand but he doesn't flinch. When the cloud evaporates, the ebony blade that I remember Luke had before he died is revealed. But that blade disappeared along with Luke, why did it come back? "That blade-"

"For your information it's called a Keyblade, the only way to unlock the hearts of people," he says snobbishly, and then in a high-strung tone he adds, "And when I get rid of you, I'm killing her." Suddenly I remember when I found Mia unconscious in the park. She asked what made me strong because she wanted to be strong enough to defeat this unstable boy. The dark man Seth called Master said, "_…do what you couldn't."_ He must have been talking about the park then, which means that Seth was supposed to kill Mia then and there but he didn't. Neither of them is strong enough really. "Why do you want to kill her? She doesn't look like the kind of person you would have a grudge against."

"Hmph, I wouldn't expect a moron like you to understand."

"You're wrong, I understand the situation impeccably." I lower my hands that were ready to fight but now I know I can talk this out with words. "I could've sworn you two were friends the way you looked at each other that day you and her were reunited." The statement deepened his scowl. I think that was the only time I saw her smile. "Or something more."

"Like I said, a moron like you wouldn't understand," persist Seth, pointing the key-shaped blade at Mia. "She ruined me."

"What did she ruin?" No answer, only a deepening frown from Seth. "I'm curious to know what a twelve-year old girl who I always find unconscious can do to ruin you."

"She-she held-I don't have to explain myself to you," he finally says, lunging at me while brandishing the black blade. I easily duck and kick him in the ribs up towards one of the lights. He smashes one of the lights and while descending head-first, he backflips and lands back on his feet but shakily. Blood is splattered on the floor as he coughs some out.

"I'll explain it to you then. She's still under the impression that you are friends and she's still confused as to why you don't want to return to your world with her. For some reason she still has hope in you. You're obviously done with her but she's too naïve to grasp it. She's too kind for you," I explain in a surprisingly lenient tone. He's just a warped kid who's afraid, whether it is the dark man he called Master or of what the future holds or the "power" inside Mia. "You're lost too, I can hear it in your voice, you're not sure of what to do with yourself."

"What you say isn't going to stop me. Mia's got the power to make stronger than I am now," he spits blood out and wipes away more, leaving a dried streak from his mouth. "Master told me that killing her will be better for _everybody_." Turning away from me, he raises the sword he called a Keyblade and takes the plunge before I can move. "Shit!" I mutter as I rush towards him. I reach to snatch the tip but astonished when I see the tip frozen, an inch away from the center of Mia's chest. The wielder is shaking fervently and brusquely drops the sword and cries out loud, his pupils dilated. He grabs for his hair and without a struggle, he yanks a blotch of dark brown hair out and throws it on the floor. Before he snaps, I kick the Keyblade away from his feet. As suddenly as he started, he stops his inner tempest and drops to his knees, looking dazed and confused. He seems unaware of where he is but when he sees Mia he frowns sadly.

"Did I do that to her?" asks Seth harmlessly, rising to his feet, then looks at me. "Did I?"

"I don't know what you did."

"Sorry, I did do this. I wish I could take it back," he replies regretfully, a tone I'm very familiar with. The anxiety in his voice is gone and filled with sorrow. "Can you do me a solid and get her out of here? I don't care where…just away from me." I scoop her under my arms and then sling her over my shoulder. Holding his temple and sulkily dropping his head, it seems like I'm talking to a completely different person. "Darkness has a way of changing people when you can't control it. What's your name?"

"Why?"

"We've never had a normal conversation, you and I. You know my name, what's yours?"

"Don."

"Don, you seemed to understand the war going on inside me. I'm gonna turn back into _that _Seth again so just get her out of here before I change again. Mia's an idiot for keep trying to save me."

"She really is. Her heart's open to the worse kind of people. Like us."

"Once I told her that she was the light in my darkness," he says with a faint smile as he squats down. "No wonder I still feel something for her." I nod to him politely and run back to where I came from. The Professor said the opening should stay open for another couple of minutes but I know I can make it, even with Mia slowing me down a little. Holding her like this makes me realize that I don't have to bring her back to a prison cell. I never would have to tell her what Seth said and I could run away with her and fulfill Luke's promise properly. An enraged roar echoes down the tight hallway, interrupting the trivial thoughts that are wandering in my head.

"I had to kill her, _I had to_!" the Seth I know all too well must have returned. How long will he struggle with himself?

' ' '

"Well done Don-is she dead?" the Professor wonders, aghast when she sees me enter from the layered opening. It collapses when I make it out and the machine she used earlier turns off.

"I've been told otherwise but I can't say for sure." She comes down the stairs and examines Mia's pulse as I still have her over my shoulder. "No, she's sleeping. She'll be up soon and be ready for more testing. Hey, what happened in there?"

"Nothing important."

"Your fists are clenched. And you can put her down you know."

"Oh," I open my palms up but still cling tightly to Mia's body. What Seth said to me earlier, _"she was the light in my darkness"_, and his feelings for her-for some reason it infuriates me. He doesn't deserve any of her kindness or her for that matter. Mia was right, I am selfish.

J.G.P.

**And more drama on the way. You actually won't hear from Mia for a while but I hoped you liked this story.**


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